Saviour of the Sea
by SheWritesInCursive
Summary: [Kate/Mike Oneshot AU] "Don't you know I'm a Greenie from way back?" / "I just never pictured you hugging a tree, that's all."


_"Don't you know I'm a Greenie from way back?"_

 _"I just never picked you hugging a tree, that's all."_

* * *

No sooner has Kate stepped onto the rotting deck of the boat that a fisherman steps forward to slash a knife at her, so close that she can hear the _whoosh_ as the silver flashes in front of her eyes. Some people might hesitate in a situation like that, but Kate has been trained, and she dodges easily, then moves forwards quickly, catching the fisherman by surprise and forcing the knife from his hand.

"Get back!" David snarls, his expression so dark that the fisherman follows, and so does his crew. Kate bites back the anger at being cut off and undermined; this is her mission after all. David, to his credit, seems to recognise that he's overstepped, and Kate moves forwards to face the man who tried to attack her.

"Master? Are you the master of this vessel?" She demands, then repeats the question in Indonesian.

" _Pembajak_." The man snarls, his words laced with venom as his gaze turns to Kate. But despite his bluster, he doesn't dare approach them. "Go!"

"Oh, we're worse than _pirates_." David growls, his clipped Kiwi accent stronger with rage. He seizes the man by the collar of his shirt and steps closer to him. "We're your worst nightmare."

* * *

She looks weak. She knows they all think that, all dismiss her at first. Blonde, petite. But it's not her weakness. It's _theirs_. She worked out how to use that to her advantage, worked out how to use her body to make all kinds of impressions, not all of them well-intentioned.

Her own team learned out the hard way when she first started, when Riley made some sexist comment and she batted her long eyelashes at him and then, before he'd even had the chance to finish calling her _sweetie,_ had knocked him flat on his arse. She's learned how to use her size to her advantage, knows the weak spots in every body, and the strongest parts of hers.

She's the bait today, even though none of them dare to call her that. But she's the only woman in their team and her own personal experience with sailors gives her an edge. She's not going into this blind.

They're drunk already by the time she gets to the bar, a whole group of them but, thankfully, none she recognises. She identifies the junior sailors and moves towards them confidently. It only takes twenty minutes, two drinks and a fake phone number to get the information she needs, and then she disappears into the night again, heels in hand.

* * *

"Nice work, Kate." Riley slaps her on the back and gives his version of a smile, more a dignified nod and a slight curling of the lips than anything else. "We get this iceboat off the water and it'll make a real difference." He looks at the radar. "Nothing much around though."

"It was only an approximate location." Kate replies curtly, pressing her lips together. Her eyes scan the horizon, pressing the binos to her eyes. But after several more minutes, she shakes her head and pushing past him to get to the radar. "Let me see."

"What? You reckon I can't work a radar?" Riley sniffs, his smile gone. He always did have a fragile ego, but she has no time for it now.

"There." She points to the contact that has just appeared on the radar. "You going or am I?"

"You and David go." He mumbles, sniffing once more in an attempt to act nonchalant. "Use the hoarser."

* * *

It takes only a few minutes for it all to go wrong. The bullets fly through the air like bees, and all she can do is sit and pray that they miss her and David. Everything is chaos around her. Swirling and buzzing and biting the air around her. She hears David curse out loud and the next second he's in the water. "Dammit, David!" She cries, torn between needing safety and wanting to go back and help him. _Leave no man behind._

She's a pacifist, mostly. But it's times like this that remind her of how confident and in control she felt with a gun in hand. "Dammit, report!" Riley calls through the radio, but she has no time to lift it to her mouth and call out an explanation. She turns the zodiac around and heads back to him, each second waiting for a bullet to enter her flesh. And then…

Then more shots, not towards them, but at the fisherman, and she just has enough time to scoop David, swearing madly, back onto to zodiac. "Fancy a swim?" She quips, if only to hide the heavy weight now blooming in her chest and cover it with sarcasm.

"Fuck you." He hisses back, gripping the bleeding wound in his shoulder and squinting at the patrol boat steaming towards them. "Is this as bad as I think it's going to be?"

"Worse." Kate answers curtly.

* * *

Kate can't help but check out the boat as they're taken aboard, David still cursing. She watches him as he's searched for stingers, then steps forward as David is moved below. His uniform identifies the man standing before them as a Petty Officer. "Arms up." He commands, and she obeys, even though she knows she could get the better of him in a fight. "Right, she's clear of stingers." He calls to the group at large, as though someone was going to shout _hooray, she's clear of stingers._

That was one of the things she'd hated most about the Navy. The unnecessary verbal rituals. "You dodged a bullet. Several in fact." But Kate catches sight of the man watching with a steely gaze from the bridge and feels her heart sink. No. The Petty Officer snaps his hands in front of the Kate's face, and she fights the urge to break them like twigs. "You know, any time you feel it's appropriate to thank us for saving your life, you just go right ahead."

"Yeah, thanks." Kate mutters, walking away before she can hear his sarcastic _no problem._

* * *

Fremantles are not known for their privacy. Kate wonders whether they know that she can hear them, whether this is nothing but a staged argument. Surely they must know that the tatty blue curtain was not soundproof.

 _"All fine unless you count the attitude problems."_

 _"Attitude problems?"_ He demands from the other side of the curtain. Him. _"Who the hell is she?"_

 _"She says her name's Kate but won't give us a surname. She's refusing to say much more. In fact, she's been demanding we release her and her crew. She's scary, boss. We... uh... had to put her in zipties. Hey, like I said. Scary."_

Despite her predicament, Kate can't help but let out a small snort of laughter, both at the idea that they were scared of her, and imagining Riley's face if he ever heard her say _my_ crew.

And _Scary_. At the moment she doesn't feel scary. She catches sight of her reflection in the glass of the microwave. She looks pale.

 _Be scary,_ she thinks. _Be scary so he doesn't see you scared._

And so she glares at her curtain as though willing it to burst into flames, and as _he_ pulls back the curtain, he flinches so badly that she wouldn't have been surprised to find her gaze actually scorched him.

"Hello again, _Sir._ " She hisses.

He's aged, in the seven years, two months and seventeen days since she's seen him last. Of course, that's to be expected, she supposes. She knows she's aged in that time too, her skin weathered by sea air and hair bleached by the sun. But those same damn eyes still knock the breath out of her, just like they had years before.

"Kate." He murmurs, then a moment later seems to regret this transgression. "Uh… Miss-"

"Don't." She cuts across him. "We're not going to do that, are we? The _it's been so long, how have you been_ bullshit." She catches sight of several pairs of heavy combat boots on the other side of the curtain, and wonders just how many people are eavesdropping.

"Okay, fine." Mike folds his arms. "Let's not waste time with chit-chat. What the hell were you thinking? Hoarsers and… and _Saviours of the Sea_?"

Kate folds her arms too, raising an eyebrow. "You don't know me, Mike." She hisses. "You never did."

"You can't just show up after years of-"

Kate cuts him off. "If I remember correctly it was you that left me."

He shakes his head, looking at her as though completely stuck for words. "That's not fair. We made a mutual decision-"

"I was 23. _Nothing_ was mutual." Kate points out, before idly wiggling her fingers. "You going to get me out of these cuffs? I'm feeling a little like a criminal here."

"You are a criminal, Kate. That hoarser... what were you thinking?"

She shrugs as best she can while still tied up. "Just because you abandoned your principles doesn't mean I have to."

"Who says I abandoned my principles?" She lifts her wrists to her mouth, tugging on the end of the cable tie and tightening them as much as they will go. Then, with one fluid motion, she pulls her wrists quickly towards her stomach. There's a crack of plastic and Kate grins, waving circulation back into her wrists.

"See you've learned a few more tricks." Kate rolls her eyes and unzips her wetsuit, peeling it down so that it sits above her waist, the bikini top allowing her to breathe a little easier. "W... what are you doing?"

"It's hot." She says, glad she can still elicit some sort of response from him. He opens his mouth, not looking very sure what he's going to say, but is interrupted almost immediately by a knock at the door.

The young sailor looks around nervously. "Ah, boss, we're-"

He stops dead at the sight of Kate. "Hi again, Spider." she coos, making sure to smile a fake, sweet smile. Spider looks petrified, peering at the boss.

"Ah, coming up on the mothership now." He gabbles, and bolts from the room without another word.

Mike peers between Kate and Spider. "Tell me you didn't sleep with him." He begs, dragging a hand over his face.

"Don't tell me you'd be jealous." She winks, and it's worth it, just to see his eyes jerk to hers for a moment, for him to feel some fraction of the pain he'd caused her. She lets him squirm for a good ten seconds before laughing softly. "No, but go easy on the kid. It was just a few drinks."

"You seem to think this is a game!" Mike snaps, and she's able to see just how pissed off she's making him. He always was a control freak and here, she is one thing he can't control on his precious ship. "This is just like you. Refusing to take responsibility for anything in the real world-"

"Because I left ADFA I have no sense of responsibility?" Kate repeats. "The planet is dying, Mike."

"And you almost took a dozen men with it."

She forces a nonchalant shrug. "If that's what it comes down to."

He shakes his head. "I can't talk to you. Not like this. ET!" Mike raises his voice, and a man pulls back the curtain and enters. Kate supposes he's good looking, but there's something, almost like a cockiness, as though he too knows he's attractive. He smiles nervously, before turning his attention to Mike.

"Sir?"

"Watch her." He spits, threading zipties back onto her wrists.

* * *

It's almost too easy. He tries to connect with her of course, probably to satisfy his own curiousity, probably. She wonders vaguely whether he was an owner of one of the boots on the other side of the curtain, eavesdropping. She feeds him enough to make him doubt her abilities, to make him sure she couldn't possibly be the mastermind of an operation like this.

When the lights darken, she pretends to be tired, curling up on the uncomfortable bench and closing her eyes. He's tired too; she had seen him yawning, and within twenty minutes, he'd poked his head in to see if she was asleep, before moving off, muttering about a coffee.

Breaking the zipties works as easily as it had the first time, and soon she's sneaking down the corridor, marvelling at just how simple they'd made this. David is unguarded too, although groggy on morphine, but he wakes easily enough, and she is able to lead the way on deck.

"Murderous bastards." David hisses in her ear, as they walk past the dozing fisherman.

"Not now." Her voice is a curt order, but she's glad he listens to her. As she'd thought, their jetski is tied to the side of the boat, and it's just so easy, undoing the knot and climbing on.

"Keys?" David prompts.

She holds them up. "Swiped them off the captain." She grins. "I-"

"Kate, stop!" The voice rings out through the darkness, and sudden torchlight blinds her, but she knows his voice. "Stop what you're doing, and come up here now."

"Stay here." She whispers to David. "When I say _go_ , start the engine."

She takes the ladder, climbing up and stopping closer than normal, standing offensively close to Mike. "Kate, don't do this." He's almost begging, a hand on her bare arm. "Please. We knew each other once."

"Yeah, we did." Kate agrees, not expecting the softness in his voice. She's trained in liars enough to know that he is sincere, that he _really_ doesn't want her to be caught, or hurt. "But we can't go back, Mike. We chose opposite sides."

"We can." He assures her. "Whatever you're doing, we can... we can fix it." He's so close to her now, and it would be so easy to close the distance. But it's him that does, him that presses his lips to hers, and it's like a forgotten drug, reawakening everything in her. She deepens it, takes a step closer, and then another, pressing herself to him, so that he collides heavily with the bulkhead, throwing a hand out to steady himself and-

"Kate, what the hell-" He moves to reach her, but the ziptie on his hand prevents him from reaching her as she darts suddenly back.

"Sorry, Mike." She whispers, and she does mean it, but it doesn't mean she's going to change it. Then she turns towards the spot where David is. "Let's go!"

"Kate, don't do this!" He begs again, voice muffled over the jetski engine.

"See you next time, Mike." She says, climbing onboard the jetski. And as they speed away, faster than anything the fremantle could achieve, she can just make out his silhouette against the dark ship's frame.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Got no idea where this one came from. Ending is a bit... eh... but this was never going to be a happy ending :)_


End file.
